Column - Maybe it's stage fright

Sunday

Jun 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMJun 29, 2008 at 4:13 AM

t’s happened again. I wrote that sentence to start my column, but I got sidetracked thinking about “Car Talk,” you know, the call-in National Public Radio show with two laughing brothers. I thought of them because they always end their show each week with that line. One of them will say, “It’s happened again; you’ve wasted a perfectly good hour listening to ‘Car Talk.’”

Making fun of themselves is part of their charm, really, but these things must be done carefully, and only by confident people.

CHERI MCSPADEN

It’s happened again. I wrote that sentence to start my column, but I got sidetracked thinking about “Car Talk,” you know, the call-in National Public Radio show with two laughing brothers. I thought of them because they always end their show each week with that line. One of them will say, “It’s happened again; you’ve wasted a perfectly good hour listening to ‘Car Talk.’”

Making fun of themselves is part of their charm, really, but these things must be done carefully, and only by confident people.

I don’t think I’d end my column with the sentence, “It’s happened again, you’ve wasted a perfectly good five minutes reading my column” — partly because here, since you can’t hear the inflection of my voice to know that I’m kidding, it might come off as pathetic.

But I’m confident enough to admit a weakness: It’s happened again — I tried to cook for people.

The saga began when I ate some different, but amazing, baked beans at a family party a few weeks ago. So, for a Sentinel potluck picnic, I tried to combine the best parts of that recipe with the one I usually make. After my creation had been in the oven for a short time, I got a clean spoon and took a bite. Heaven. But did I take it out and call it good? No. I left it in, trying to get closer to the median baking time between the two recipes. That dried the heaven out of them.

Potlucking is not the time for experiments. I know. But even when I’ve used one of my tried-and-true recipes, it hasn’t been much of a success. For instance, my cashew burger recipe is the only one I can make if I’m cooking for a vegetarian. When I make these for myself, they’re delicious AND attractive, but I made them for a recent guest and they fell apart into a crumbly mess.